The Hylton Performing Arts Center was pleased to welcome 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship recipients The Legendary Ingramettes as a Fall 2023 Hylton Center Artist-in-Residence. Richmond’s “first family of gospel” shared their family history, the evolution of gospel music, and a sampling of popular gospel music selections with more than 600 members of our community.
The Legendary Ingramettes was formed six decades ago by “Mama” Maggie Ingram, who found inspiration in Black gospel male quartets of the 1940s and 50s. Singing harmony with her children, Ingram broke new ground with her female-driven quartet. They are now led by Ingram’s daughter Reverend Almeta Ingram-Miller, granddaughter Cheryl Maroney Yancey, and daughter-in-law Carrie Jackson. The Hylton Center was delighted to welcome the artists, along with their Music Director Patrick Newby, who together, led seven residency activities with a variety of community groups.
The breadth of The Legendary Ingramettes’ work and rich family history offered the George Mason University community a unique opportunity to engage more extensively with the artists. Reverend Ingram-Miller began the residency through a virtual visit with Mason’s Arts Management program, moderated by Arts Management faculty member and Associate Director of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy, Josh Kohn. The artists visited a Public Folklore class with Jon Lohman, executive director and founder of the Center for Cultural Vibrancy for a discussion about the special relationship between folklorist and artist. Rev. Ingram-Miller also participated in conversations moderated by Mason faculty members through the Anti-Racist Collaborative Arts at Mason program, facilitated by William Lake, Jr., director of Concert Bands in the Dewberry School of Music, and a Black Feminist Thought class facilitated by Wendi Manuel-Scott, professor of Integrative Studies and History.
The Legendary Ingramettes also connected with the larger local community through performance, workshop, and lecture demonstrations. Local residency visits included a lunchtime concert for residents of Potomac Place Assisted Living and Memory Care, plus sharing their family story and recent work with members of Lifelong Learning Institute – Manassas, complete with a Q&A session for attendees.
The ensemble paid a special visit to Manassas Park High School’s Chamber Singers for a workshop rehearsal of two songs that the choir would later perform on stage with The Legendary Ingramettes during their live Hylton Presents performance on December 3, 2023. Both audience and performers alike were moved by their heartfelt and rousing performances of “Hallelujah” and “Jesus O What a Wonderful Child.”
Our Executive Director and Dean Rick Davis often states that “the arts create community.” The Legendary Ingramettes’ work with the community through thoughtful storytelling, stellar musicianship, and masterful instruction is a perfect example of this sentiment.
Learn more about the Hylton Center’s Artist-in Residence program and how these residencies create spaces for transformational experiences to happen.
This engagement of The Legendary Ingramettes was made possible through the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Support for the residency was also provided by the Hylton Center Education Initiative’s lead sponsor: Amazon Web Services, and other Education Initiative sponsors.
